Or is it millstone? I’m just about to reach the 90,000 word mark on the sequel to Broken Lock. I’m exhausted! I estimate that the finished book will be 110,000 words long, like Broken Lock and its predecessor, Union Clues. I’ll be celebrating with a glass of wine when I’ve finished the first draft – until I get the comments from my beta readers! I’ll keep you posted on my progress…
2 Responses
My problem seems to be that I develop several stories at once – a bit like spinning plates. Trouble is, spinning plates finish within a few minutes. my stories don’t seem to end within required limits! So much for restricting number of words – one story has entered the league of what you may call “A Book”, being over 30,000 words already. Yes, there is an ending planned but the characters have to go through a “mill” of experiences first.
Does anyone else have this problem?
John W
I find that taking the characters through that ‘mill’ is an interesting journey! I plan the journey step-by-step in advance, because I’m that sort of person, but invariably it turns out different from my plan. It’s as though the characters take over. How about just accompanying them on the journey and letting the word count take care of itself? You might end up with a novella – or a series of novellas (novellae?) which you could publish in one volume. Right – I’m off on the next stage of my journey with my characters. I’ve written 92,000 words so far (so much for letting the word count take care of itself ;-)). Good luck…